About FDA
When and why was FDA formed?
Though FDA can trace its origins back to the creation of the Agricultural Division in the Patent Office in 1848, its origins as a federal consumer protection agency began with the passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act. This law was the culmination of about 100 bills over a quarter-century that aimed to rein in long-standing, serious abuses in the consumer product marketplace.
The passage of the 1906 Act was due in large part to the untiring scientific and political efforts of Harvey Washington Wiley, who at the time was chief chemist of the Bureau of Chemistry of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, FDA’s predecessor. The 1906 Act, which prohibited misbranded and adulterated food and drugs in interstate commerce, charged the Bureau of Chemistry to carry out its provisions.
Eventually, the position of chief chemist of the Bureau of Chemistry evolved into that of the commissioner of food and drugs.
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